Mechanisms of Brightness Perception and Filling-In

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：这背后的使命 研究的目的是了解计算机中发生的计算的性质， 人类大脑产生感知和更高的大脑功能。才能 推断出感知的皮层回路或处理阶段？我们能 推断出局灶性脑损伤的具体后果，并提出 补救措施是可能的吗？完成这一使命的一个富有成效的途径是 使用一种动物模型，在这种模型中，可以在单个 神经元水平。研究的重点是亮度知觉及其基础 机制以及对视觉表征的相关研究 神经反应中的信息。光感是相当可观的 行为意义的对象识别，但鲜为人知的是， 神经基础它是研究 感知和神经活动，因为它的感知是高度的背景 依赖的和经典的视觉演示和涉及亮度的错觉 很有说服力亮度效应的强度和延展性表明 可能存在强大的依赖于情境的神经活动， 阐明感知如何依赖于单个神经元的活动， 神经元群体。这项研究将评估单一 细胞反应和亮度感知的关键要素，包括亮度 稳定性和锚定。将在几个腹侧区域进行记录 的视觉皮层，以确定哪些区域包含表面表示， 无论表面表示是在一个阶段构建还是跨多个阶段构建 加工阶段。实验将量化神经元的相对时间 反应，以评估知觉示范之间的关系， 填充和可能的潜在机制。他们还将描述 刺激信息在延迟响应中表示的方式 皮层神经元和调查的"自上而下"的信号， V1区。

DESCRIPTION(adapted from applicant's abstract): The mission that underlies this research is to understand the nature of computations that take place in the human brain to give rise to perception and higher brain function. Can one deduce cortical circuits or processing stages underlying perception? Can we infer the specific consequences of focal brain damage and suggest that what remedies might be possible? A fruitful avenue for addressing this mission is to use an animal model in which careful investigations can be made at the single neuron level. The research focuses on lightness perception and its underlying mechanisms as well as related investigations into the representation of visual information in neural responses. Lightness perception is of considerable behavioral significance for object recognition, but little is known about its neural basis. It is an ideal probe for investigating the link between perception and neural activity because its perception is highly context dependent and classic visual demonstrations and illusions involving lightness are compelling. The strength and malleability of lightness effects suggests that there may be robust context-dependent neural activity that can be studied to clarify how perception depends on the activity of single neurons and populations of neurons. The research will assess the consistency between single cell responses and the key elements of lightness perception including lightness constancy and anchoring. Recordings will be made across several ventral areas of visual cortex to determine which area(s) contain surface representations and whether a surface representation is constructed at one stage or across multiple stages of processing. Experiments will quantify the relative timing of neural responses to assess the relationship between perceptual demonstrations of filling-in and possible underlying mechanisms. They will also characterize the manner in which stimulus information is represented in the delayed responses of cortical neurons and investigate preliminary findings of "top down" signals in area V1.